Orlando Utilities Commission

REFUND. The Orlando Utilities Commission is expected to approve the refinancing of $195 million in bonds at a special meeting today. The city-owned utility will refund its remaining variable-rate bonds and replace them with fixed-rate bonds. The new bonds will come due between 2011 and 2023 and have a 6.98 annual yield. OUC wants to lock in fixed interest rates, said Mark Mazak, OUC's chief financial officer. The utility provides electric and water service to about 120,000 customers in the city of Orlando and in unincorporated Orange County.

Power has been restored to the Lake Nona community. Just after 4 p.m. today, nearly 4,600 electrical customers were without power in the area near State Road 417 and Narcoossee Road after a construction worker accidentally struck a main feeder line, officials with Orlando Utilities Commission said. OUC officials quickly turned off the main electrical lines in the area to prevent workers near the site from being electrocuted. "We just want to play it safe," said Tim Trudell, communications manager for OUC. "Our utmost concern is the safety of the individuals.

MR. GETCH, 40935 County Road 439, Umatilla, died Tuesday, May 11. He was a service planner for the Orlando Utilities Commission. Born in Altoona, he was a lifelong resident of Lake County. He was a member of Fair Haven Baptist Church, Eustis. He was a member of the Gideons and the Ham Radio Operators Club. Survivors: wife, Pat; daughters, Mary Ellen Warner, North Wilkesboro, N.C., Barbara Elaine Monkus, Dahlonega, Ga., Leslie Ray Gibson, Umatilla, Renee Goodwin, Eustis; brothers, Willard Gatch, Eustis, Frank Getch, Tavares, Lewis Earl Getch, Monticello; eight grandchildren.

The future of Central Florida's biggest electric utility depends greatly on a proposed power plant that Duke Energy will unveil Thursday during an open house 90 miles from Orlando. While construction is to start in less than two years, much about the Crystal River plant is still uncertain. It doesn't have state approval, an established supply of natural gas or a manufacturer tapped to build the generator components. But the North Carolina-based company has a lot is riding on the project, including Duke's increasing struggle to produce enough power for 700,000 customers in Central Florida and 1 million customers elsewhere in the state.

Ed Bouchard lives by numbers. For example: 113,769, 15 and two.Those figures represent how many meters he read for the Orlando Utilities Commission during 1992, his number of miscounts and the times he's been chosen OUC's top meter reader.Bouchard, 35, is the second person to finish first more than once since the city-owned water and electric company started the meter reader competition in 1985.''Unbelievable'' is the way OUC president Rick Fletcher characterized Bouchard's 99.987 percent accuracy rate.

When it came time to fill the top post at the Greater Orlando International Airport, the airport board searched the nation for the best candidate.So have Orange and Seminole county school boards looked nationally for superintendents. Area colleges and universities have scoured the states for exceptional people to place into top positions. Orange County has launched national searches to head planning, corrections, data and human-resources areas.When it came to choosing someone to head the city of Orlando's large and growing electric utility, though, its governing board decided this week to forego a national search and, instead, appoint someone close at hand.

The city-owned Orlando Utilities Commission has earned a good reputation by running a smooth operation and by serving its customers well. All the more reason quickly to clear up questions raised by recent Sentinel news reports.An investigation headed by new OUC board member Mel Martinez, an Orlando lawyer, is an appropriate way to find out exactly what happened.Among issues that warrant examining:- Apparent travel abuse. Specifically, company records indicate many instances of OUC officials flying first class and, at times, taking their spouses along.

The board of the Orlando Utilities Commission has taken a necessary first step toward restoring some luster to the city-owned utility. Its good name was tarnished recently by ethical questions raised in Sentinel news reports.They included instances of OUC officials flying first class with their spouses; the accepting of gifts; and extravagant parties at the utility's private park, Camp Down.Unfortunately, because of questionable accounting practices, the OUC's board says it didn't know about many of those excesses.

Orlando Utilities Commission General Manager Ted Pope has decided to turn the controversy over OUC's lavish spending into a fight over the credibility of a former underling.Mr. Pope's response last week to those charges centered on whether Dave Lowery, a former OUC maintenance manager, is telling the truth. Mr. Lowery has said that Mr. Pope and other OUC managers frequently used utility resources for personal reasons.But the committee appointed by Orlando Utilities commissioners to look into the ongoing controversy shouldn't forget what the real issue is here.

There's a hum - some say more of a low whine - to a different breed of car trundling along America's roads.The sound you hear, supporters say, is the future of transportation, especially for those commuting daily to and from work.Within a few weeks, at least two of those distinctive autos, the yowl courtesy of an electric motor, will be running around Orlando at the behest of the Orlando Utilities Commission.Like many power companies across the country, OUC believes electric cars, which operate virtually pollution free, could help clear the nation's increasingly murky skies.

A strong storm system moved through Central Florida late Friday afternoon, knocking out power to thousands of people in the downtown area. The National Weather Service in Melbourne issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Orange County. It is in effect until 7 p.m. A significant weather advisory was also issued for Lake, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia counties calling for strong wind gusts between 45 and 55 mph with the possibility of small hail. Orange County Fire Rescue reported a lightning strike at a house on San Diego Woods Lane, which is in the area of SR-417 and South Orange Avenue.

A tentative deal has been reached that would keep water running in the embattled Tymber Skan condominium complex so residents can stay in their homes. Orange County's deputy utilities director said a billing compromise with Orlando Utilities Commission is emerging that allows residents to directly pay for the service. That allows them to bypass financially defunct homeowners associations, which are now about $95,000 behind. Residents there had faced loss of water service by July.

Nearly 18,000 customers of the Orlando Utilities Commission lost electricity late Friday because of a problem at a sub-station near the Orlando International Airport. The black-out affected homes and business just before 11 p.m. in the Conway area extending to Curry Ford Road. All power was restored by 1:13 a.m. A transformer at the substation malfunctioned which tripped a circuit breaker causing the outage, said OUC spokesman Tim Trudell. ericarodriguez@tribune.com . Henry Pierson Curtis contributed to this report.

The heat that Central Florida's biggest power provider is getting heat this week includes a commercial in Orlando that criticizes Duke Energy for using coal and resisting solar energy. The commercial was done by the online-based, social-justice groups Presente.org and The Other 98%. The piece can be viewed at DirtyDuke.org and will appear four times on WFTV-Channel 9. Its message is a biting spoof of energy-industry advertisements. The ad starts with a narrator saying: "At Duke Energy, we make power, dirty power, the kind of power that can destroy a river and give a little girl asthma attacks.

Like many people living in Metro Orlando, government officials hire financial advisers to suggest the best ways for their administrations to save, spend and borrow money. Right now, one firm, PFM, is advising the heaviest-spending governments and agencies in Central Florida, including Orlando, Orange and Osceola counties, Orange and Seminole schools, the Orlando Utilities Commission, the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority and possibly Orlando International Airport. Those operations are responsible for everything from roads to landing strips to classrooms to water and electricity.

Extraordinarily frigid weather in much of the nation has brought $1.4 million in unexpected warmth this month to Orlando through electricity sales. Orlando Utilities Commission's gain is also good for consumers as the city-owned utility plans to use the windfall to maintain its current electricity rates. In predicting demand for electricity, OUC had been counting on an ordinary January: mild in Central Florida and tolerable enough in Northern cities that utilities there would handle their demand.

The Orlando Ballet will not return to the mold-infested building it has called home since 1992, executives said late Thursday, Sept. 26. Instead, the professional dancers will rehearse at the Church Street Exchange in downtown Orlando, the school will move to a warehouse near Orlando's Loch Haven Park, and administrators and box-office staff will work in space on Orange Avenue leased from Florida Hospital for $1 per year. The 112-year-old Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts was evacuated late last month after tenants complained of a strong odor.

Maybe it's the holiday spirit, but I've got more hugs than slugs to give away today. •Check, please, Santa . A big hug to Bank of America for sending Santa - with a $200,000 check stuffed in his sack - to IDignity , one of Central Florida's most innovative nonprofits. IDignity helps the poor and homeless get drivers licenses, government IDs, military benefits and more. It's not a glamorous job. But it changes lives. •Spotlighting courage . A hug to Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings for honoring the 10-year-old who alerted teachers that a classmate had brought a small arsenal of weapons to Endeavor Elementary School one day in September.